


Ugly Christmas Trees

by gay_as_heck



Series: Femslash Yuletide 2014 Ficlets [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: AU where Lori survived Judith's birth, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2831627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_as_heck/pseuds/gay_as_heck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the <a href="http://femslashyuletide.tumblr.com">Femslash Yuletide 2014</a> challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ugly Christmas Trees

**6 days till Christmas**

 

“I want to make Christmas festive.” Lori announced suddenly. They were both on Carol’s bunk, Judith laying between them, sleeping soundly.

“In these days?” Carol tilted her head slightly, “I know we want to pretend things are still normal, but how much can we do for Christmas during the zombie apocalypse?”

“Enough to make Judith’s first Christmas meaningful.” Lori smiled sadly. “Enough to make Carl’s first Christmas without his father a little less gloomy." Carol felt her heart break just a little bit. The group was still reeling from the sudden demise of their leader, attacked by walkers right after Lori gave birth to Judith. Lori, Carol, and Daryl had continued the council meetings, but without much enthusiasm.

“Alright.” Carol sat up. “What do you want me to do?”

* * *

  **5 days till Christmas**

 

It turned out the most important part of Christmas was getting a tree.

It took a long time to convince Daryl to go out and risk his life chopping a tree down.

“The hell do you need a tree for?” Daryl squinted at Carol, his hands nervously running through his hair.

“Lori wants it. To celebrate Christmas.”

“We should be celebrating that we ain’t been eaten by walkers yet. Or froze to death in this cold.” He rubbed his hands together, as if to prove his point.

“If you’d wear a damn jacket maybe you wouldn’t be so cold,” Carol teased. “Really Daryl, would you please just get a tree. You could probably convince Michonne to go with you.”

He grunted. “You women are strange."

* * *

  **3 days till Christmas**

 

He came back with Michonne a couple of days later, hauling a pathetically small but still usable pine tree.

Lori stepped up behind Carol, Beth trailing behind her, Judith in her arms. “Thank you both,” she said sincerely.

Michonne gave her a small smile, while Daryl grunted what Carol could tell was a “You’re welcome.”

Michonne and Daryl hauled it to just in front of Lori’s cell. “We can take it from here.” Lori reached out her hands to steady the tree, and Carol followed suit, using a broken bed frame to keep it up.

“Need me to do anything?” Beth’s small voice chirped from a few feet away.

Carol smiled. “No, thank you, honey. You just take care of Judith while we take care of this.”

“Carl!” Lori shouted across the hall. “Git your butt over here, we need your help!”

—

Pretty soon, the tree was decorated. Bits of colorful cloth were wrapped around branches, while a few frozen flowers were strategically placed in between pieces of cloth. Carl had long since abandoned the task, claiming Daryl had promised to take him out hunting. Carol and Lori took a step back, admiring their handiwork. 

“Well,” Carol said slowly, “it certainly is..creative.”

“It’s the godamned ugliest tree I’ve ever seen,” Lori deadpanned.

Carol burst out laughing, which set Lori off in a fit of giggles.

“Well,” Carol wiped her eyes. “At least we can say we tried.”

“That’s all we really can do,” Lori agreed, gently grabbing a hold of the other woman’s hand. Carol wrapped her fingers around Lori’s hand, her thumb caressing Lori’s.

“You know,” Lori said softly, “This used to be my favorite part of Christmas.”

“Ugly trees?”

“No,” Lori said with mock sternness. “Decorating the tree. I was the smallest, so I was always the one who got picked up to put the angel on the top of the tree. I used to love it.”

“My dad dropped me once,”  she added, chuckling. “I broke my arm and had to be taken to the emergency room. Mama made sure he never forgot that."

“But all that work.” Carol wrinkled her nose. “My favorite part was breakfast after opening the presents. My mom would make pancakes and eggs, and we’d drink eggnog and argue about who got the better presents. I won the year my dad got me a puppy.”

“What was its name?”

“Bingo. I’m not kidding!” She added when Lori gave her a LOOK. “I named him Bingo. I wasn’t a real creative kid.”

Lori laughed. “You wouldn’t know it now, miss lets-put-clothes-on-the-christmas-tree.”

“Did you have any better ideas?”

“No,” Lori conceded, sticking her tongue out at Carol.

“What’re you, five?”

“Five and a half.”

Just then, Judith started crying.

“Lori,” Beth said in a panicky voice.

“Be there in a sec,” Lori called. 

“This ain’t over,” she mouthed at Carol before she headed over in Beth’s direction. Carol rolled her eyes.

* * *

  **1 day till Christmas**

 

Carol wasn’t sure what time it was. Then again, she was never really sure of the time anymore. All she knew was that it was too late to be awake, and Judith was crying again. She’d been crying for 10 minutes straight. No one had said anything yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time before someone started yelling choice words.

She left the warmth of her bed to shuffle over to Lori’s cell, eyes still half closed in sleep.

“Lori,” she whispered. “Do you need help with the baby?”

“Yes, please.” Lori opened the cell door, her hair wild, bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep.

Carol walked in and picked Judith up wordlessly, cradling her in her arms gently and soothing her. Soon enough, Judith’s eyes were closing, and she was drifting back to sleep.

“Thank you,” Lori whispered, tears in her eyes. She sat down on her bed again. “I’m a terrible mother.”

“That’s not true,” Carol said softly. “You’ve made some some bad decisions, sure. But who hasn’t? Mine cost me Sophia.”

“Don’t say that.” Lori turned to look at Carol quickly. “Don’t you ever say that. Losing Sophia was _not_ your fault.”

“I know,” Carol replied, smiling slightly. “But as a mother, I take it all upon myself. Wouldn’t you?”

Lori didn’t answer, and Carol stood up to put Judith back in her makeshift crib just as Lori blurted out, “Stay with me? Please?”

Carol nodded. “Sure.” She put Judith down and turned to sit on the bed next to Lori, her knees knocking against Lori’s briefly. Lori lay down, her body stretching out across half of the bed before she gestured for Carol to do the same. 

Carol lay beside her friend, her fingers brushing against the softness of Lori’s hand. Before she knew it Lori had grabbed her hand and their fingers were interlocking, the warmth comforting Carol. Lori leaned into Carol, her heart beating solidly into Carol’s arm.

“I-“ Lori shook her head, turning away from Carol.

“You what?” Carol asked gently, tugging on the other woman’s hand. 

“Nothing, I just..I love you. I hope you know that.”

“I do,” Carol replied, smiling softly. Before Lori could turn back around, she added, “I love you too.”

Lori turned to face her, lifted one of her hands to her mouth and kissed it tenderly, right on the bruise Carol got fighting off walkers a week ago. Carol pulled Lori closer, and they lay intertwined, hardly knowing where either of their bodies began or ended.

They lay like that, breathing in sync and huddling close together, slowly falling asleep, their fingers still intertwined, till the sun peeked in through the prison windows, marking the start of Christmas Day.


End file.
